DALLAS: A drug used to bolster the body’s immune system in the fight against tumours has been found to reduce Alzheimer’s-related symptoms in mice, including cutting the build-up of toxic amyloid plaques in the brain by half, and restoring certain memory functions.
While it’s a long way from mouse models to humans, the finding is helping researchers unravel the incredibly complex relationship between our immune systems and the onset of dementia. In the past, researchers suspected that an overactive immune system could be to blame, but more recently, studies are suggesting the opposite could be true.
“The brain’s immune system becomes over-activated in Alzheimer’s disease, and there is a debate surrounding whether this activation is harmful, protective, or a bit of both,” says Tara Spires-Jones from University of Edinburgh in the UK, who wasn’t involved in the research.
“Many scientists believe that calming down the overactive brain system will be a useful treatment for the disease. However, drugs aimed at doing this, called anti-inflammatories, have not had much success in clinical trials”…